The invention relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine comprising a starter device for starting the internal combustion engine and a device for supplying fuel that is controlled by a control device wherein, when starting the internal combustion engine, it is determined whether cold start conditions or hot start conditions exist and the quantity of supplied fuel is controlled based on the determined start conditions.
Internal combustion engines used in hand-held power tools, for example, motor chain saws, cut-off machines, trimmers or the like, are operated under various ambient conditions. In order to ensure that the engine starts without problems in very cold weather as well as in very hot weather, it is known to determine the ambient temperature by means of a temperature sensor upon starting the engine and to control the starting process accordingly.
When using a temperature sensor that measures the ambient temperature, the existing start conditions for the engine cannot always be correctly determined. This holds true primarily when the engine has been standing still only for a short period of time so that restarting the engine should be carried out under hot start conditions; however, the ambient temperature is very low and the temperature sensor therefore determines cold start conditions. Starting the internal combustion engine under erroneously detected cold start conditions can lead to supplying a fuel/air mixture that is too rich to the internal combustion engine so that restarting the engine is difficult.